Thursday, March 23, 2017

CALL TO ACTION: Real repeal of Obamacare is the only choice

This week will be the most consequential
week in the fight to repeal Obamacare in the last seven years.

Conservatives should not support any bill that
maintains the regulatory architecture of Obamacare, and Paul Ryan’s American
Health Care Act (AHCA) does just that.

Repealing Obamacare means repealing the
underlying regulations that create the core foundation of federally controlled
healthcare. Conservatives must work to ensure any
legislation that claims to repeal Obamacare actually repeals the regulations,
such as:

Guaranteed Issue: Obamacare’s
guaranteed issue mandate forces insurance companies to give coverage to
individuals that try to game the insurance system. This provision is responsible
for significant premium increases.

Community Rating: Obamacare’s
community rating mandates insurance companies offer what amounts to
one-size-fits-all policies. These rules cause premium costs to increase
significantly for many Americans.

Essential Health Benefits:
Obamacare’s EHBs force insurance companies to offer plans that cover a wide
array of medical procedures, including many that are irrelevant for certain
groups. EHBs make inexpensive health insurance all but illegal.

Congressional Republicans cannot truly
claim to have repealed Obamacare unless they repeal big-government regulations
such as Guaranteed Issue, Community Rating and Essential Health Benefits. That
will allow competition and innovation to drive down healthcare costs.